Hold Steadfast
by Fate's Company
Summary: Inspired by the fairy tale, "The Steadfast Tin Soldier" by Hans Christian Andersen, but has a happy ending. There was once a toy maker, who created a set of five-and-twenty tin soldiers from a spoon. However, he didn't have enough tin and so ended up with a tin soldier with one leg. The tin soldier came to life and met a beautiful ballerina whom he thought had only one leg too.


**Hold Steadfast**

_Inspired by: "The Steadfast Tin Soldier" by Hans Christian Anderson_

_Note: This has a happy ending~!_

In an old forgotten town, in the northern part of the world where it always rained, was a small toy shop run by an grey bearded man with a set of peg limbs named Gobber.

Gobber, the toy maker, had received an order from his best friend, the mayor - Stoick, to create a birthday present for his son, which was to be given to the boy during a joint celebration for all the children of his age, the following day, on the eve of his birth anniversary.

Gobber searched around his stash and found a large tin spoon made from the lightest yet strongest of metals, imported from a viking island further up north. It was said that the metal was created in the bowels of a dragon and was a very precious and rare material. Gobber, although he wasn't living a harsh life and could afford to eat all meals of the day and even enjoy some nights at the bar, had only been able to afford that one spoon and was saving it for an important occasion.

Seeing as the boy, the son of Stoick, had just recently lost his mother as well as his leg due to an unfortunate accident, and because Gobber loved the young boy as if he was his own; Gobber decided that the boy deserved even more than all the most precious jewels in the world, and was even disappointed that he only had this tin spoon and his skills to offer.

Gobber melted the spoon and used the molten material to fill up a small mold. After a whole night of careful pouring, waiting for the metal to cool, and later on delicately painting it; Gobber was able to fashion a set of tin soldiers - all brothers in arms.

Everything was seemingly perfect. The soldiers stood straight adorned with uniforms of red, boots and hats of black, and with shiny muskets at their side. They were to be lined up later on and placed in a velvet box, to be greeted first by the upcoming birthday boy. However, Gobber had run out of tin since the spoon was not enough, and ended up with five-and-twenty tin soldiers with the last one only having one leg.

Gobber considered leaving the last tin soldier out but quickly brushed the thought away since it would serve as an inspiration to the young boy. Although the tin soldier had only one leg to stand on, he held just as steadfast as the rest of his brothers.

The night had grown dark, with the moon hiding behind the clouds. The fireplace had quieted to a soft crackle, and the candle he used to light up his work station was almost at the end of its life when Gobber had finished painting the last tin soldier. He set aside the finished figures inside the box, and left the one legged tin soldier on the desk promising to himself to finish polishing him up the following day, and left him next to a few projects he had just recently finished but had yet to display before heading to bed.

When the fires had died, and the night had grown silent, except for the snores of the toy maker on the other side of the wall, the moon had finally decided to come out to play, casting a light glow into the room.

The toys in the room had slowly began to awaken from their slumber, coaxed by the magic of the moon. A music box had began to play softly, while stuffed animals stretched their soft arms. Porcelain dolls blinked the sleepiness from their eyes, and stood carefully to the brush the dust from their dresses.

Meanwhile, the tin soldiers had continued to slumber, since most of them had been kept in the box. The only one who had awoken was the one legged tin soldier left standing on the table. He shifted uncomfortably on his one leg as the magic brought him to life. He balanced himself and the rifle at his side and looked curiously at surroundings.

On the table, next to where he and his sleeping brothers stood, was a beautiful castle with transparent windows that would allow light to shine through, and a lake out in front made of glass. On top of the lake were swans made of wax mixed with glitter, and the whole display was decorated by little trees and tiny plastic gems, and it was nothing short of beautiful. However, these were all pale in comparison to the centerpiece of this master art work.

At the grand doors of the castle, there stood a beautiful blond porcelain ballerina with pointed red laced up ballet shoes and a light blue dress. She stood with her arms gracefully raised in front and above her head with one of her legs beautifully pointed up high behind her, making it seem to the tin soldier as if she was standing on toes of her one leg.

The tin soldier was instantly smitten and believed that it was destiny to meet such a beautiful woman just like him with only one leg. He was slightly intimidated though, by the fact that she lived in such a beautiful castle, and all he had to offer of a home was a dark box shared with his other brothers. However, he was at least determined to make her acquaintance, and began to leap towards her with his one leg as she had began to come alive as the moonlight finally reached her side of the table.

The ballerina gently fluttered her eyes awake, and the tin soldier realized how her dress was made to compliment her beautiful endless blue eyes. The ballerina, on the other hand, was pleasantly surprised to be greeted by most emerald green eyes she had ever seen when she had awoken.

The tin soldier had finally reached the castle grounds of the ballerina and stood awkwardly a few paces in front of her. The ballerina hadn't dropped her pose and continued to exchange silent glances at the soldier in front of her.

"Ah… Good evening, milady. I have come to give my greetings." said the tin soldier, leaning forward slightly to give her a small bow as the ballerina looked on curiously at this tin soldier who gave off such a strong aura despite being slightly awkward because of his shyness and his predisposition.

"Good evening to you as well, kind sir." the ballerina replied softly that the soldier had likened it to the tinkling of glass bells. "You do not look familiar. I have not seen you around since I was created a fortnight ago." she whispered to him softly, as if not wanting to wake something up.

"Pardon my incompetence as I have failed to introduce myself. I am a tin soldier that was born from the last drops of a spoon, along with my brothers. We were just made earlier this evening so it is no surprise that we have not met before." the tin soldier said, casting a glance at the other side of the table where his brothers lay asleep.

"We were created as a birthday present for a young boy and are to be presented tomorrow eve." the tin soldier added.

"Ah! We are the same then! I was created as a birthday present for a young girl too. I am unsure when I am to be presented, but I do bear the name, Astrid, as it is the name of my owner to be. May I inquire what is yours? Unless you do not know yet the name of your owner and have yet to share a name with him." Astrid gently inquired.

"I believe that my brothers and I will be given to a boy named Hiccup, if the memories of my creation serve me correctly. You may choose to call me that then, if that is the rule. Although, it might become confusing if all my brothers were to share the same name as well upon their awakening." Hiccup had claimed, his face scrunching up at the thought that for the rest of his life, he would not be able to distinguish whether she were calling him or one of his brothers.

The ballerina gently lowered her hands to her face to cover a giggle as her eyes sparkled with mirth.

"Oh my! My good, sir Hiccup. You words are quite humorous. It is given that us toys would share a name with our owner as a symbol of ownership until they decide to bestow a new name upon us, but you would not need to worry about sharing a name with your brothers." she gently chided him.

"Since you are the first to awaken, it is a given that you would bear the owner's name in behalf of all of you as their eldest brother and leader. It will be your task to name your brothers when they awaken until you are all christened with a new name by your owner." Astrid had explained to him.

"I apologize. I am ignorant of the rules, milady." Hiccup had said with another bow.

Astrid had simply accepted his apology stating that it was only natural that he was ignorant as he was just born. She had been living in the toy shop for two weeks so it made sense that she was familiar with the rules of their kind. She expressed empathy as she told him that she was also confused when she was newly born and was fortunate enough to not have to experience the complications of having many sisters.

Hiccup, in the short span of their conversation, had quickly fallen hopelessly in love with the beautiful ballerina, her mirthful eyes, and her bell-like laughter. Even when she finally stretched and revealed that she actually had in fact, her other leg which was hidden behind her in her previous pose; once the slight shock wore off, he had concluded that he didn't care that they weren't similar in that aspect and wished to continue the rest of their limited time in the toy shop by her side.

They continued to converse, and she even gave him a small performance, dancing above the glass lake with the help of the music box on a nearby shelf. Hiccup was completely entranced with her movements while Astrid was happy to perform for such a handsome audience and was willing to dance for him all night long when suddenly, the grandfather clock in the room struck midnight, alerting the two to the time.

The music box had stopped playing, and Hiccup had heard the lid snap quickly. Hiccup noticed that Astrid's face had gone pale, when only a second ago it was full of happiness and joy. Astrid had quickly glanced around the table while the room had promptly become eerily silent.

Astrid glanced worriedly at his direction while whispering to him with an alarmed tone, "You should go now. He is coming for me. Return to your brothers and never look back. You mustn't come to my castle ever again."

Hiccup was greatly confused. He was newly born, but he knew that it was still far too early to bid goodnight to the magic that made them come to life. They still had many hours until the dawn breaks. Hiccup considered that perhaps she was rejecting him and turning him away, but he did not do anything to offend the ballerina, and earlier on it seemed as if she was slightly smitten with him too.

He was about to question her when she quickly spun back to her position at the castle gate, and resumed her earlier pose and closed her eyes as if she had never awoken.

Hiccup wasn't sure whether or not the magic had truly left her and she had gone back to sleep or if she had only pretended to do so but he realized that was the only response he would get from her tonight.

He began hopping back to the velvet box that contained his brothers when his path was suddenly blocked by a large foot tall goblin doll carrying a box with a crank. The doll introduced himself quickly as Fishlegs, before apologizing for what was about to happen.

Hiccup gave a startled cry when suddenly the box opened and out popped a clown who bared down at him with an evil and angry face. Hiccup had pointed his musket at him out of reflex and demanded who he was.

"My name is Snotlout." said the angry clown as it leaned backward and forward in a spring motion over the small tin soldier. "Don't you dare go near Astrid. She is mine!" the clown shouted at him.

"You have no claim over her. She belongs to nobody but herself and her future owner." Hiccup had argued back, pointing his musket more aggressively at the clown.

The clown growled at him retreated back inside his box and Hiccup had lowered his musket back to his side as he hopped cautiously around Fishlegs, the goblin doll, and the box.

Just as he was about to hop the rest of the way back to where the toy maker had placed him, he heard an eerie tune being played behind him and saw that Fishlegs was cranking the box Snotlout had come from. As he watched and listened more closely to the eerie tune, he heard a shout come from the castle and saw that Astrid, had moved again and was shouting towards his direction.

"No! Get away there! Don't do it, Fishlegs! Don't hurt him, Snotlout!" Astrid had tried shouting over the music. Hiccup had only managed to take a small leap back when the music had abruptly ended and Snotlout had popped back out, using his large mouth to grab Hiccup and throw him out the open window.

Hiccup was shocked and hadn't really realized what was happening until he was falling towards the cobble streets on the other side of the window. He only had a few seconds of consciousness before he hit the ground and darkness overcame his vision, and a distant scream that sounded like his name rang loudly through the night and echoed in his ear.

When Hiccup awoke, the sun was high in the sky, and the streets were filled with people passing by. Some of the magic of the night had somehow remained with him even as the morning rose as he was conscious even though it was day time. However, there was not enough magic in him to move his body, not that he wanted to since he ached all over due to the fall.

Hiccup mentally assessed himself and was glad to realize that he was still fully intact with not even a scratch on him, despite the huge fall. Hiccup gratefully thanked the gods that he was made up of such strong iron.

Hiccup had began to panic as the birthday presentation was this eve and he was worried if he would be present for it. However, after calming himself, he planned a strategy wherein he would get himself back to the toy shop that night, and be able to get himself in the box in time for the presentation.

And so Hiccup waited, while staring at the sky, for night to come so he would be able to move again and get back inside the room. He was also plotting revenge towards the clown that had thrown him out, and promised that he would, no matter what, find his way back to Astrid, the ballerina, the love of his life.

Hiccup was excited and wondered if night had quickly fallen while he was lost in his thoughts and tried moving again. He still wasn't able to move his limbs and wondered what was wrong when he realized that night had come instantaneously and that couldn't happen. He glanced up and realized that two similar looking blonde haired, blue eyed children were staring at him and was thankful that it wasn't night time and that they had not seen him move or else he might have angered the gods for breaking the most sacred rule for all toys and might have taken back his privilege to come back to life, so soon after he was just born.

"Hey Ruffnut. Look! It's a toy soldier!" said the male child, while picking him up carefully between his fingers.

"I saw it first, Tuffnut!" said the female child, grabbing him violently from the clutches of her male counterpart.

"Nu-uh! I had it first so give it back, sis!" the child called Tuffnut exclaimed, reaching out to grab the soldier from his sister's hand.

"No! You can have the toy yak, but this is mine." argued the little girl called Ruffnut, holding the toy away from the boy.

"Toy soldiers are for boys! You're not a boy! You only look like one." fought Tuffnut, launching himself at the girl until they were wrestling on the floor. Hiccup prayed to the gods that they would drop him and forget about, and that he would not get injured here, in the hands of rowdy children.

Just then, small drops of rain started to fall, calming the twin children who looked up at the sky at the dark clouds.

"A toy soldier should have a boat to sail in, wouldn't you agree, dear brother." said Ruffnut suddenly, her demeanor quickly changing into one that spoke of logic.

"Agreed, dear sister." said Tuffnut, in an equally odd demeanor, compared to just a few seconds ago. "What say we test a theory about how fast a paper boat can go, using the small streams caused by the rain."

"Oh! Brilliant idea, brother. Shall we?" Ruffnut agreed, grabbing a slightly crumpled piece of paper from a bag she was carrying, and folding it up to form a paper boat.

The twins placed the boat in a small stream by the gutter, and placed the tin soldier on it, and Hiccup realized that he was going to be taken further away from the toy shop.

"No! No!" Hiccup tried to voice out, completely forgetting that the children couldn't hear his thoughts and that it was forbidden to let children know that toys could come to life. The twins, obviously, hadn't heard the desperate cries inside the tin soldier's mind, and laughed gleefully as the boat sailed across the water with the tin soldier in it.

However, the rain started to pour harder and the boat carried the tin soldier further away from the children, faster than their little legs could carry them.

"Oh no! Now the toy is getting away! It's all your fault, Tuffnut." said the twin girl after losing sight of the paper boat with the toy soldier in it.

"Me?! You're the one who made the boat! Now the toy is gone. Remember, you promised me that the yak is mine now." argued the twin boy, and Hiccup could only become even more depressed as their arguments became further and further away.

"Nu-uh! The soldier was yours and now you lost it so now the yak is mine."

"No way!" "Yes, way!" "No!" "Yes!" "No... " "Ye…"

The paper boat continued down the street until it finally dropped into a gutter and Hiccup screamed as the boat dropped down the waterfall into the sewers. The boat tossed and turned as the waves moved this way and that. Hiccup steeled himself and regained his determination that no matter where this tunnel led him, he would somehow find his way back to his brothers and to Astrid.

The waves calmed down as the boat Hiccup was on seemed to finally have reach a dam in the canal. However, when he looked up, there was a dark, sinister looking rat who greeted him.

"The name's Alvin. Do you have a pass? Show it to me, now!" squeaked the large rat at him.

Hiccup remained silent as he couldn't speak, anyways. Not until night had fallen, and the light of the moon had touched him again. The boat had continued to move forward and the rat had followed it in desperation.

"No! You have not paid yet! Come back here!" squeaked the rat louder, but Hiccup had no money to pay, nor could he stop the boat even if he wanted to.

The stream had pushed the boat further and further away from the rat and where Hiccup had come from until Hiccup could see a light at the end of the tunnel. However, a loud roaring sound had also carried up to where Hiccup was and he realized that he was going to fall off a waterfall much larger than the one earlier and braced himself for the impact.

The boat rushed on and fell over the edge towards a lake inside a cove, and Hiccup had barely managed to appreciate the view before he felt himself sink deeper into the water as the paper boat started crumbling because it had absorbed too much water already.

Hiccup had thought about the boy, Hiccup, who would receive his birthday present, missing a piece. He remembered the eerie tune from the box where the clown had come from and thought that Astrid would be harassed by that clown until the real Astrid had received her and only hoped that the two toys would never meet again. Hiccup chided himself that he would not think about bad memories of his short lived life and began to softly hum in his thoughts the soft tune of the music box that Astrid had danced to as he sank deeper and deeper into the depths of the water.

However, just as he was only a few feet away from the bottom of the lake, a black figure had swooped into the water and swallowed him whole. He was swallowed by a black dragon who was trying to catch a fish and had been mistakenly swallowed along with the water the dragon had snapped at.

Hiccup heard a distant voice, calling to the dragon in whose belly he resided in.

"Come on, Toothless. We have to go home or else we'll miss the party!" said a nasally, high pitched voice that seemed to belong to a young boy.

The dragon which carried him warbled back to the young boy in reply, causing Hiccup to jolt around the stomach of the dragon as the muscles contracted because of the movement of the dragon.

Hiccup continued to move slightly inside the belly of the dragon, as the dragon began walking towards an unknown destination, with the boy next to him talking about how a girl he liked would also be joining the birthday celebration, and about how he wasn't able to prepare a gift for her and that he was sorry.

Soon, the boy and the dragon he was in finally came to a stop, and he heard the loud music of a celebration on going. Hiccup had already resigned himself to his fate, and wondered how long it would take for him to get fully digested by the dragon.

He continued to listen to the sounds of excited children around him as the boy had joined the festivities, leaving the dragon alone in a corner of the room. Pretty soon, the excited cheers were accompanied by pleased gasps, as the children finally received their presents.

The boy who accompanied the dragon earlier on was the first to receive his present, and he thanked his father for the set of tin soldiers he received, causing Hiccup to remember his brothers and wondered if this was the boy he was supposed to be given to. Perhaps since the dragon had belonged to the boy, and because he had come into the possession of the dragon, he had indirectly come to the boy's possession as well and he was somehow glad he had managed to find his owner after all.

Next, it seemed like a girl had received her present and Hiccup had heard the oohs and ahhs of other women who admired the present she had received. He heard the voice of his owner, Hiccup, the boy; apologizing to Astrid because he wanted to give her a present too. Suddenly, the dragon moved and his muscles started contracting and the next thing Hiccup, the toy soldier knew, he was staring up at two sets of emerald green eyes similar to his.

"Oh! Eww, Toothless! Why would you do that, you useless reptile, and what was this inside your mouth?" the boy, with the emerald eyes had said, picking him up and wiping the dragon saliva away from his body.

"Oh! Hey! It looks like one of the tin soldiers from my set! Except, it's only got one leg. Kinda like me." said Hiccup the boy, examining the toy in his hand.

A large man with a pair of peg limbs suddenly took the toy from the boy's hand and examined it.

"Hey! This is the last piece I made! It was supposed to part of the set I made for you, but it wasn't there when I looked. I wonder how it ended up with Toothless?" questioned Gobber, the man who had created him, while handing him back to the real Hiccup.

"So this is mine?" Hiccup, the boy asked while looking at Hiccup the tin soldier.

"Yep. And you could do whatever you want with it." said Gobber, pushing the young boy towards a girl with blonde hair and blue eyes who was holding onto a beautiful ballerina whom Hiccup, the tin soldier instantly recognized as Astrid.

The two humans had stared silently at each other, just as their two toy counterparts stared at each other in relief as seeing each other again. Although, Astrid could not move since she was in her owner's hands, Hiccup saw that her eyes shone as if she was on verge of tears, silently looking at him in relief that he was alive.

Hiccup, the toy soldier, also gave her a look of love, as they had somehow made their way back to each other, only to be separated once again. But he was sure they would see each other again, since their owner were playmates, and so Hiccup, the toy soldier, prayed that the day they would see each other again would come quickly.

Hiccup, the toy soldier, was in the midst of silently praying to the gods when Hiccup, his owner, had reached out the hand holding him to the Astrid, human girl, bringing him inches away from Astrid, the ballerina doll.

"You can have this soldier, Astrid. Unless you don't want a one legged doll... I can give you another one." said the little boy to the little girl.

"No! I like this one!" replied Astrid quickly before looking at Hiccup questioningly. "But are you sure? Isn't he the most important part of your set?"

"I'm sure. I have two dozen more so it is ok. Besides, it has to be important since it's my gift to you, if you'll have him." responded Hiccup, handing the one legged tin soldier to Astrid.

"Thank you, Hiccup! I'll treasure him. I'll call him, Hiccup, since he is like you. Strong and loyal! And he'll protect my Astrid ballerina doll and they'll be together forever like you and me!" said Astrid, hugging the two dolls together, causing the dolls faces to crash together, making Hiccup, the tin soldier, and Astrid, the ballerina kiss.

"That's nothing!" said a rowdy boy, pushing his way between the two humans. "My Snotlout, jack-in-a-box is way cooler!" said the Snotlout boy, cranking the box too quickly and too harshly, causing the spring break and the toy stuck inside the box.

"Aww, man! There goes another toy.", grumbled Snotlout as he walked away embarrassedly.

"Don't worry, Snotlout! When we get your toy to open again, he can play with my Fishlegs goblin doll!" said a blonde chubby boy, holding out a doll.

"No way! The goblin doll will play with my new yak doll!" said a blonde girl named Ruffnut, as her twin brother, Tuffnut, was just happy that he got their old doll to himself.

Hiccup, the tin soldier, smiled happily at Astrid, the ballerina, as Astrid, the human girl and their new owner, had placed them back in Astrid's castle to give Hiccup, the boy, a kiss on the cheek.

Drowned by the sounds of the humans continuing to party, Hiccup, the tin soldier, had leaned closer to Astrid, the ballerina, to proclaim his love for her and receive her words of love in return as they kissed and promised to hold steadfast to each other from now until forever.

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Note:<strong>

Okay~ So I was staying one night when I remembered this story from before. I remembered I watched this animation adaptation of the story, long ago when I was a kid. I chose to give the story a happy ending, because I hate sad endings.

If you aren't familiar with the true ending to the story of the tin soldier, it was that the tin soldier was swallowed by a fish and managed to make his way back to the ballerina's side when they cut open the fish, only for the tin soldier into the fire, causing him to melt. The ballerina was made of paper, and she was blown by the wind into the fire, causing her to burn quickly, and all that was left was a metal flower decoration attached to her sash which charred up. So yeah, the tin soldier watched his love burn, in like, a second, while he slowly melted through the night. The next day, a maid comes to clean the fire and sees the blacked charred flower from the ballerina, and sees a tin heart, which was the tin soldier.

OMG. So heartwrenching. So yeah, let's think happy thoughts shall we? We have enough sadness in this fandom, what with Stoick's ship and all. /3 /3 /3

Let's be friends on tumblr at hatchethaddockhoneyhofferson

You can message and request stories from me there. :D

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